Internal-combustion engine.



w. w. GREEN & H..C. RICHARDS.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14, 1915.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

W. W. GREEN & H. C. RICHARDS.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE [4, 1915.

LQU'YEQQ Patented Dee. 5,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WILLIAM W. GREEN AND HARRY C. RICHARDS, 0F MILES, MICHIGAN.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 49%.

Application filed .1 une 14, 1915. Serial No. 33,882.

To all to/tom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM W. GREEN and HARRY C. RICHARDS, citizens of the United States, and residents of Niles, Berrien county, Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is declared to be a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines of the duplex type, and its of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section of an engine embodying a simple form of the invention, taken on the broken line 11 of Fig. 4; Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the broken line 22 of Fig. 4; Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Referring to said drawings, 10 designates the cylinder body and 11, the crank case of an upright, internal combustion engine, the two being bolted or otherwise secured to gether, as usual. Said cylinder body has an outer cylinder, 12, and an inner cylinder, 13,

concentric therewith, and, if desired, it may be cast integral therewith; both are open at one end (in an upright engine, at the lower end), and their upper ends are connected by a horizontal head or'cylinder. wall, 14.

Traveling in the cylinder are pistons designated by the numerals, 15, 16, respectively, which, if desired, may be cast in one piece, connected at the bottom by a part,

17, arranged for connection with a connecting rod, 18, by means of a wrist pin, 19, as

usual, said connecting rod connecting at its lower end with the crank, 20, as is well known to those skilled in this .art.

The inner cylinder, 13, and piston are of ordinary cylindrical form, whereas the outer cylinder and piston are of annular form surrounding the inner cylinder as shown. Conveniently the inner cylinder may .be shorter than the outer one, the skirt or lower end of the outer cylinder serving alone to guide the pistons when they reach the lower ends of their strokes.

On ach side of the cylinder body, 1.0, are

valve casings, 21, 22', which may be cast integral with the cylinder body, 10, the casing, 21, comprising the inlet side and the casing 22 comprising the exhaust side of the engine. The top of the inner cylinder and valve casings are closed by a cylinder head 23, bolted or otherwise removably secured to the cylinder body.

In the lower portions of the valve casings.

are chambers, 24, 25, which are separated from the upper portions of the valve casings by horizontal partitions or walls, 26, formed with' valve openings forming ports between the chambers, 24, 25, and cylinders; said openings are controlled by puppet valves, 28, 29, 30, 31, whose stems extend down and out through the lower walls of the valve casings, and are held upon their valve seats by coiled springs, 32, in accordance with the common and usual practice; below the valve stems are tappets or push rods, 33, which are guided in the engine body; cams, 34, 35, 36, 37, on cam shafts, 38,39, actuate said tappets and unseat the valves, as usual, and said cam shafts are driven from the crank shaft, a, by gearing (not shown), the construction and arrangement of which, however, is common and well-known; with this engine, as in other four-cycle engines, the crank shaft makes two revolutions for each revolution of the cam shafts. In the I upper portions of the valve casings are individual passageways for each cylinder, the passageways, 40, 41, leading to the inner cylinder, 13, and being controlled by the puppet valves, 29, '31, and the passageways, 42, 43, leading to the outer cylinder and being controlled by the puppet valves, 28, 30}

A convenient way of forming the individual passageways may comprise vertical webs, or partitions, 45, extending across the upper portions of the valve casings, from front to back (see Figs. 3, 4 and 5), and a down- .wardly projecting web, 46, on the head, 23,

meeting said webs and extending to the inner cylinder wall. The passageway for the inner cylinder is best seen in Figs. 1 and 3, and the one for the outer cylinder is best seen in Figs. 2 and 4. Thepassageway for the inner cylinder leads over the top of the outer cylinder, at one side of the center thereof, and the passageway for the outer cylinder leads directly to the top of the outer cylinder through the ports, 42, 43. Spark plugs (not shown) are provided, one for each intake side of the passageways, and an ignition system for igniting the charge is provided in accordance with the usual practice; the cylinders may be protected by water jackets, or otherwise cooled, as is desired,

In operatlon the explosive mixture is ad-' mitted to the air chamber, 24, and on the intake stroke of the inner piston, the valve, 29, is opened and the mixture admitted to the inner cylinder, the exhaust valve, 31, at this time being closed. The cams for the valves that control the ports to the outer cylinder are so set that when the inner piston is traveling on its intake stroke, a compressed charge in the outer cylinder has been ignited and the piston in said cylinder is on its explosion stroke. Following the intake stroke of the inner piston, the up strokecompressesthe charge in the inner cylinder, which charge is ignited when the piston reaches the top of its "stroke, the piston forced down on the explosion stroke, and on its exhaust stroke, the exhaust valve, 31, is opened to permit the escape of burnt gases. The operation of the other cylinder is precisely the same;the explosion strokes of the piston being simultaneous with the intake strokes of the inner piston, consequently, an explosion stroke is obtained for every revolution of the crank shaft.

Obviously a plurality of engines like the one described may be coupled to a common crank shaft, in accordance with the common practice and practically double the motive power of an engine of ordinary type may be developed with this engine, although the size of cylinders may be practically the same.

More or less variation of the exact details of construction is possible without departing from the spirit of this invention, and we desire, therefore, not to limit ourselves to the exact constructions shown and described, but intend in the following claims to point out all of the invention disclosed herein.

We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In an internal combustion engine an inner internal combustion cylinder and an outer internal combustion cylinder surrounding the same, a common inlet chamber for both cylinders and a common exhaust chamber for both cylinders, separate v-alve controlled inlet passageways leadingjfrom said inlet chamber to both cylinders and separate valve controlled exhaust passageways leading from the cylinders to the exhaust chamber, pistons, one in each cylinder and both traveling in unison and cams for actuating the valves, said cams being set so that on the intake strokes of one piston the other piston is on the explosion strokes.

2. In an internal combustion engine, an inner internal combustion cylinder, an outer combustion cylinder of annular form surrounding said inner cylinder, a common inlet chamber for both cylinders and a common exhaust chamber for both cylinders, separate inlet passageways leading from the inlet chamber to both cylinders and separate exhaust passageways leading from the cylinders to the exhaust chamber, valve controlled inlet and exhaust ports for each cylinder located between the passageways and chambers, a cylindrical piston in the inner cylinder, a piston of annular form in the outer cylinder, said pistons being connected to travel in unison, a crank and crank shaft, and a connecting rod connecting said pistons with said crank.

WILLIAM w. GREEN. r g a iv o. nrcnanns. 

